![]() ![]() So in order to see players other than the starters, you had to use “Line Changes On” mode. A History of ViolenceĪnother limitation of NHL 91 was there was no ability to change the starting lineups. It sounds crazy to describe this, but it meant finding a hockey annual that had the jersey numbers listed next to the stats to discover who belonged to some of the more unfamiliar numbers. There were a few minor errors, such as making the Oilers’ Steve Smith a right-shooting defenceman, but those were rare.Ī quirk of this particular game was the players were identified by their jersey numbers and not their names. For me, part of the charm of the game was discovering through actually playing it that its creators had generally got the ratings right. Graphics and gameplay aside, there was no music, no running play-by-play commentary, no ability to make trades or create players, and not even an option to view the individual player rankings. ![]() Of course, this game bore almost no resemblance to the modern versions of the EA Sports NHL franchise. ![]() (When playing other sports video games back then, it was normal to hear what sounded like the ocean through someone’s ham radio before realizing it was an attempt at crowd noise.) Even little touches like the sounds of the puck off the boards or the crowd reactions were way ahead of what a typical hockey video game offered at the time. The decision by the game’s creators to provide a view from directly overhead of the ice surface instead of from the side was a good one. However, the promise of finally playing a game with actual NHL teams and players was what prompted me to buy the game and console sight unseen. The quality of the graphics (while primitive by today’s standards) was well beyond any existing hockey video game at the time. I remember very clearly seeing those images of the cover and the gameplay for the first time. I say this because while I never once saw an ad for this game during a hockey broadcast or in a hockey publication, I did learn about it from a coming releases flyer at a local video store. Finally, the game seemed to be marketed mainly to the gaming crowd and not the hockey community. Secondly, this particular game was released for just the one console, the Sega Genesis. For one, this was not only before social media, it was before the internet. Granted, no one really knows how well a brand new game will sell when it is first released, but EA Sports executives must have had a feeling they had lightning in a bottle with not just the best gameplay in a hockey video game to that point, but also the fact it was the first one to feature NHL team names and actual players’ jersey numbers.īased on personal experience, the word of this game’s arrival seemed to spread very slowly. 1991-92 EA Sports NHL Hockey cover art (Courtesy Wikipedia) When I look back, what is striking is how very quietly EA Sports debuted its popular NHL hockey video game series.īefore each year’s date of release, choice of cover photo and results of the season’s simulation generated annual headlines, “NHL Hockey” was just the latest entry in the hockey video game market. ![]()
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